Monthly Archives: July 2013

I’ve been itching to explore all the hills around Bucaramanga, so this Sunday I joined a trip organized by a local group of hikers (in Spanish: senderistas). Despite a late ending to salsa dancing the night before, I sprang out of bed at 6:15 and made my way to Parque La Flora to meet the hiking group. As I was expecting, I was the youngest one in the bunch of hikers. After spending the past few years hanging out in bingo parlors, volunteering at museums and doing tai-chi in the park I’ve embraced the fact that my interests seem to most closely align with those of the 55 and over population. I was warmly welcomed by the whole hiking group in their adorable, matching hiking club t-shirts. We began with a little stretching and then a mandatory exchange of hugs/well-wishes with all the group members. From there we started climbing and climbing up hills and soon had beautiful views of Bucaramanga from above. One thing I appreciate about the landscape of Bucaramanga is that a mere twenty minutes of walking from my neighborhood results in a total change of scenery with a thick, jungle-like forest obscuring any signs of the nearby city. Our first stop on the hike was a tranquil lagoon which seemed to be something of a secret since many people on the hike had never been before.

PARAGLIDING: My fellow Colombo teacher Vaya left last week to travel around Colombia for a month and then return to Greece. For her last weekend in town we went into the hills near Bucaramanga to go paragliding!

We each flew for 15 minutes with a pilot sitting behind us steering the paraglider. Hanging in mid-air among the birds, overlooking the city and the mountains was a unique feeling and the whole experience was very relaxing. Continue reading →

This past weekend was the much-anticipated International Film Festival in Barichara. It was totally FREE and todo el mundo was planning to attend. I had been to Barichara earlier, but only for a few hours. On Saturday morning we set forth by bus!